Namibia is a vast country of 823 145 square kilometres on the Atlantic Seaboard of the Southwestern portion of Africa. It is bordered by Angola in the North, Zambia in the northeast, Botswana in the east, and South Africa in the south and southeast. A description of the geography of Namibia is not complete without mentioning the Caprivi Strip (the Caprivi Concession, the Caprivi Zipfel - "Zipfel" in German means "tip or point"), which measures some 482 kilometres in length and between 30 and 105 kilometres in breadth. The Caprivi strip is named after Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi di Caprara di Montercuccoli, a distinguished German soldier and Bismark's successor as hnperial Chancellor between 1890 and 1894.
Great Britain ceded the strip to Germany in 1893. The aim of the German government was to get access to the Zambezi River, to link Namibia to Tanzania (former German East Africa),
and probably to prevent the Englishman Cecil Rhodes from penetrating northwards into the interior of Africa. I
Most of the land consists of a high plateau with an average altitude of 1,080 metres above sea level. The climate of Namibia is hot and dry due to the fact that Namibia has in general, a low rainfall figure. The low rainfall has a serious impact on the productivity of the farming community. More than 60% of Namibia's population live in the northern part of the country.
A further 10% live in Windhoek, the capital city of the country, leaving the remaining 30% of the ·population scattered across the vast arid and semi arid land.
The Rhenish Mission Society worked among the Nama people who occupied tribal areas of Namaland. Namaland comprises part of the Hardap and Karas regions close to the South African border in the South. The total population of the Nama people was estimated in 1842 at 20 000. The Nama, also known as Ikhobesin, are the famous "red people" (lawa-khoin) of Namibia. In the mid nineteenth century the Nama people could be found almost throughout Namibia, from Sesfontein in the Northwest to the Orange River banks in the South. No other group of people in Namibia at that time could claim a wider access to the country than the Nama and the San people. The San could be found in parts of Southern Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.2
During the nineteenth century, most Nama tribes developed permanent centres where the chiefs resided and the tribal government was established. An inclination towards centralisation, which already existed in pre-colonial times, was further encouraged by missionary interest. The Nama tribes had independent governments before the start of the colonial era. Despite the disastrous effects of the colonial wars, the traditional political system survived. The Nama people were very reluctant during the mandate period to recognise the so-called police zone. It is worth mentioning that the Herero and the Nama peoples were the first indigenous groups who challenged the German colonial authorities.
I Shekutaamba Nambala. History of the Church In Namibia. New Jersey:
Collingswood Publishers. 1994. pp. 6-8.
2 Shekutaamba Nambala. p. 22.
Chief Hendrik Witbooi 'The Great' (ca 1825-1905) was one of the impressive Namibian leaders of this group. Witbooi was everything from progressive statesman, advocator for national unity, first guerilla leader to church leader, evangelist and accomplished diarist. In many Namibian circles, he is regarded today as a national hero. According to J.S. Malan:
"One of the most effective administrations is that of the Ikhobesin under Chief Hendrik Witbooi. A tribal government consists basically of a hereditary chief and an elected council".3
Traditionally the Nama people were nomadic cattle farmers, consisting of groups such as the Rooi Nasie, Veldskoendraers, Fransmanne, Groot Dode, Bondelswarts and Topnaars, functioning separately under chiefs and counsellors. Later they were joined by the Oorlams who moved back from the Witboois, Amraals, Berseba group, Bethanie group and Afrikaners. The Nama language contains traditional clicks. The language is characterised by click sounds produced with an ingressive air stream when the tongue is drawn sharply away from various points of articulation at the roof of the mouth. The four clicks used in Nama are as follows:
I Dental click
:t; Alveolar click
! Alveopalatal click II Lateral click4.
In the Nama grammar, the clicks precede the verb. The pioneer of the Nama language who conducted substantial research as early as 1851 was a Rhenish Mission Society's staff member based at Berseba. He was missionary J.A. Kronlein. The Nama people of Southern Namibia were the first who came into contact with the missionaries of the nineteenth century.
They were exposed since that period to intensive Christianisation and missionaries' endeavours. From the outside, the German missionaries were mostly in contlict with the Nama people. I would argue that there was suspicion on both sides, and consequently, the
3 J.S. Malan. Peoples of Namibia. Pretoria: Rhino Publishers. 1980. p. 119.
4 H. Vedder. Die Voorgeskiedenis van Suidwes-Afrika. Windhoek: John Meinert.
Drukkery. 1937. p. 64.
indigenous people's culture, religion and world view was not fully understood. The Nama people were mainly regarded as heathens and uncivilized.
As stated earlier, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, German missionaries entered the Nama territory, with the intention of bringing the Christian message and European colonialism to the area.
Like missionaries elsewhere, however, they brought in their wake first traders, then settlers, and finally soldiers, administrators and politicians, most of them Germans seeking a share of Africa. The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 set the ground rules for colonial expansion in unclaimed or challenged territories. The German officials in South West Africa promptly induced or forced most of the tribes in the territory to sign protection treaties. On that basis the Imperial German Reich proclaimed a protectorate over the entire area except "the port and settlement of Walvisbaai (Whale Bay)". (That enclave of 434 square miles had been claimed by Britain some ten years before)5. Because of systematic alienation, the people - first the Hereros and later the Nama - rose in rebellion against the German government.
Unfortunately, the Hereros and the Narnas were not united in their fight against the colonial government. As a result they were defeated by the settlers' superior weapons and organisation and by Teutonic ruthlessness. They were no match for the ruthless exploitation that accompanied settler violence and the expropriation of land and he suppression indigenous culture.
2.2 German Colonisation and Conflict
The colonial status of Namibia, like that of many African countries, was decided by the European powers at the Conference of Berlin in 1884-1885. With the exception of Walvisbaai, the territory was allocated to Germany. Th~ boundaries of German South West Africa, as Namibia was then known, were formalised over the following few years, cutting across existing patterns of settlement. During the time of colonialisation, the famous slogan
5 G.M. Carter and P.O'Meara (eds). Southern Africa: The Continuing Crisis.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1982. p. 142.
was, "where trade is, there the flag will soon follow".6
Bismarck was merciless in his foreign policy. The process of Gennan colonialisation was cruel, in the sense that the colonizers were guilty of the most terrible crimes. They had a desire for an unrestricted materialism, and would not hesitate for a moment to destroy the African people.
Heavily anned Gennan colonists moved into the Southern and Central parts in 1890, depriving the indigenous people of land on which to graze their cattle and sheep. This lead to a continued struggle between the residents among themselves and between them and the colonizers. Resistance was hindered by disunity, although, in 1858, African leaders came together at Hoachanas, and signed a peace treaty which set out procedures for resolving differences. It is very interesting to note that the peace treaty of Hoachanas was introduced in the name of the Triune God. I will only cite the introduction and the last paragraph of the treaty.
In the name of the Holy Trinity,
the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,
we the undersigned have resolved to unite in the following treaty:
No chief may pennit copper being mined in his territory without the knowledge and agreement of all other chiefs, or to sell a fann or site within his territory to a white person from the Cape Colony. Whoever, despite this makes such a deal shall be heavily fined, and the purchaser himself will have to bear the cost if he has been acquainted with this law beforehand. 7
The above mentioned peace treaty of Hoachanas is dated 1858 and was signed by seventeen Namibian leaders from the South and Central parts of Namibia. A closer look at the peace treaty reveals that the signatories were believers, and above all, law abiding citizens. From this treaty it is clear that the aim of the leaders was to protect the interests of the people. In
6 J.L. de Vries. Mission and Colonialism in Namibia. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
1978. p. 9.
7 H. Vedder. Archival material. Berigte oor Suidwes Afrika. Windhoek, Namibia:
ELCRN Archives. 1938.
my opinion this treaty was mainly aimed at regulating material gain or profit from such transactions. Its main inspiration carne from a desire to cultivate patriotism among the different groups.
The German government established control over the entire territory except the sector north of the "Red line", which marked the area believed fit for white settlement. With regard to the treaties, the Germans only made a partial exception for the Rehoboth Basters, a community of persons of part white ancestry who had migrated from the Cape in the mid-nineteenth century. The German representatives signed a treaty with their leaders which gave that community substantial autonomy in their own area under the laws they had brought with them. However, Africans in the territory were kept in economic and political subservience.8
Africans became sojourners in their own country, whereas migrants such as the Rehoboth Basters from the Cape Colony exercised autonomy in their own affairs. Africans could no longer tolerate the situation. Many Africans whose traditional livelihood had been undermined, were forced to take up wage labour for the colonists, usually on a temporary or migrant basis. The hostility on the part of many white colonists to Africans increased. The message was clear. Africans should not aspire to social equality. Their proper role was to be a labouring class on a meagre wage. Legislation was introduced, depriving Africans of the right to own land or cattle. Despite this situation, the seizure of land, most Africans were still able to survive through traditional farming and herding activities.
According to Tilman Dedering, the 1840's mark a crucial period in pre-colonial Namibia. For the first time in the history of missionary and Khoikhoi interaction, trade relations between Namibia and the colonial market began to take off. Although it was a crucial period in the trade market, the colonists had a hidden agenda with the indigenous people. The Germans effected divisions by making and breaking military and economic agreements with the various communities. This meant that only temporary and limited unity was achieved against
8 G.M. Carter and P.O'Meara (eds). Southern Africa: The Continuing Crisis.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. p. 143.
9 Tilman Dedering, "Khoikhoi and Missionaries in Early Nineteenth Century Southern Namibia: Social Change in the Frontier Zone." In Kleio, Vol., XXll., UNISA.1990. p. 39.
Gennan domination. The Gennans never honoured the treaties signed with the indigenous people. The indigenous people were very desperate to trade with the Europeans, mainly to exchange their livestock for fireanns and ammunition.
The build-up in cattle stocks and the availability of wage labour provided the settlers with the opportunities to control the entire region. By 1903, more than half of the herds previously owned by the Herero people for example, who lived in the central areas of Namibia, had passed into the hands of settlers.
In August 1884, a Gennan protectorate was fonnally declared over the areas surrounding Liideritzbucht. On 28 October 1884 a defence and friendship treaty was concluded between the Gennan government and the headman of Bethanie, Joseph Fredericks, by the Consul General and Commissioner for South West Africa, Dr. Nachtigal.\O The said agreement was executed, and resulted in the building of roads and the establishment of mines. In the surrounding area the economy was booming, and the German flag had been hoisted in Liideritzbucht. Soon afterwards the Gennans entered several treaties with the indigenous people. In October 1884, Namaland was also declared a protectorate. In the following year, on the 2nd September 1885, Gennan agreements followed with the Nama, and on the 15th September with the Basters of Rehoboth. On the 21 SI October of the same year the Herero accepted Gennan protection.
These treaties were politically driven. After Europe recovered from the convulsions of the American war of independence (1775-1783), the French Revolution (1787-1799) and the Napoleonic wars (1796-1815), a period of romantic adventurism dawned. Treaties paved the way for travelers, adventurers, traders, soldiers, politicians and literary men who began for various reasons, to interest themselves in Africa and its people. This was for Europe the romantic age of exploration.
The European governments did not lag behind these explorers and adventurers. They
10 J.L. de Vries. Mission and Colonialism in Namibia. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
1978. p. 16.
supported their nationals, consolidating the gains and establishments made by them. For example, the shores of the Atlantic coast were soon dotted by English, American, French, Spanish and Portuguese factories and firms. As a result, at the foundation of the International Association for the exploration of Africa (1876) in Brussels, and later at the Berlin Congress (1885-1886), Africa was divided into colonies allotted to different European governments.
The missions were, however, not forgotten in this dispensation. The relevant governments undertook to protect and favour all religious, scientific and charitable institutions. In doing that, they gave special protection to Christian missionaries. For obvious reasons, missionaries, protected and encouraged by the governments of their home countries, did not delay in following explorers and colonizers.
S.c. Saxena observes the situation of Namibia as follows: "The period between 1893 and 1903 occupies an important place in Namibia's history because it was during this period that the people of the territory, especially the Herero and the Nama, lost their land and cattle at the hands of German settlers.,,1\ This situation of continuing seizure of their lands, provoked the Hereros and they rose against the Germans in 1904. Lacking firearms and unable to move quickly because of their large herds and cattle, they were defeated by the Germans and driven eastwards into the waterless Kalahari desert. In August of 1904, the Nama, who lived mainly in the South of the country, joined the war under the leadership of Hendrik Witbooi. Hendrik Witbooi was the most powerful African leader in Namibia at the time the Germans began to colonize Namibia. By adopting guerilla tactics, a Nama commando under Jacob Morenga was able to continue fighting until 1906.
The German colonial authorities, determined to wipe out resistance, resorted to genocide, poisoned water-holes and machine-gunning refugees. It was their intention, through such cruel methods, to reduce the population of central and southern Namibia, by more than half.
Survivors were forced into prison labour camps on the coast, where thousands more died. It took the full resource of German colonialism in Namibia to subjugate the Herero and Nama.
II S.c. Saxena. Namibia and the World: The Story of the Birth of a Nation. Delhi:
Kalinga Publications. 1991. p. 28.
The genocide of 1904-1907 left the countryside in ruins. The country was bleeding. 12 To sum up, the uprising of 1904 is a prime example of a suppressed people's overwhelming desire for freedom. The legendary leader of the Nama people at the time, Hendrik Witbooi, was inspired by the Old Testament and Luther's doctrine of God's twofold governance of the world.
According to Per Frostin, Witbooi used, inter alia, theological arguments when rejecting the claims of the Gennan colonists. Writing to the Gennan governor, he stated:
The Lord God has placed various kingdoms in the world, thus I know and believe that it is neither a sin nor a crime that I should wish to remain independent chief of my own country and people... but you talk of power and justice, and by your own admission you deal with me because you are powerful in weapons and the comforts of civilization, and I must agree that you are truly powerful, and that I am as nothing in comparison to yoU.I3
It has often been pointed out that the majority of African nationalist leaders have a Christian background. Given the missionary emphasis on education, this is understandable. Contrary to this perception, a certain Dr. B. Schwartz, a visitor to Witbooi's residence in Homkranz in 1888, complained about what he described in his report as a confusion of religion and politics.14 Dr. B. Schwartz, an intellectual of Gennany was of the opinion that Hendrik Witbooi brought religion into disrepute. Hendrik Witbooi the great, was involved in war with the Gennans most of the time. He was fatally wounded on 29th October 1905 during an attack on a Gennan transport column near Vaalgras. The leadership of the Nama people was entrusted to the deputy chief Samuel Isaak on the 2nd December 1905, and after a period of unrest and conflict, the people could start rebuilding the Gibeon congregation. 15
12 L. Benjamin and C. Gregory (eds). Southern Africa at the Crossroads. Rivonia:
Justified Press. 1992. p. 108.
13 Per Frostin. The Theological Debate on Liberation. Church and Liberation in Namibia. Edited by Peter Katjavivi, Per Frostin and Kaire Mbuende. London: Pluto Press.
1989. p. 71.
14 Per Frostin. The Theological Debate on Liberation. Church and Liberation in Namibia. Edited by Peter Kaljavivi, Per Frostin and Kaire Mbuende. London: Pluto Press. 1989. p. 71.
15 Julius Baumann. Van Sending tot Kerk. Windhoek: John Meinert. 1967. p. 108.
2.2.1 The Mandate Era
The country now known as Namibia experienced turbulent times. It remained under German Rule until after the outbreak of the First World War. On the 91h July 1915, the German troops in the territory surrendered to the South African forces who had joined the allies in the war against Germany. From that date until the 3151 December 1920, the territory was under South African military government.
Under the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 Germany relinquished her territories in Africa, including Germany South West Africa. In terms of that Treaty, South West Africa was declared a C Mandate and entrusted to the Union of South Africa. On behalf of the League of Nations South Africa received full power of administration and legislation over the territory.
As an integral part of the Union of South Africa, it had the power to apply the laws of the Union of South Africa to the territory. South Africa misused the situation of the Mandate.
There was clear evidence from the beginning that South Africa wanted to absorb the territory as a fifth province. There was no intention to treat the mandated territory as a sacred trust of civilization.16 It regarded the permission to treat Namibia as an integral part of its own territory as a licence to establish its system ofrace discrimination, 'segregation', 'apartheid', or 'separate development'. Those Africans despoiled by German rapacity did not regain their lost land or cattle. Instead, they were treated as vagrants and pressed into labour in the mines and on the farms of new South African settlers or of the many Germans who remained and did not leave. 17
South African rule soon proved to be almost as oppressive as that of Germany. The League of Nations mandate (a 'sacred trust of civilisation') promised to promote to the utmost, the material and moral well-being, and the social progress of the inhabitants of the territory.
Gradually, the Native Trust and Land Act was applied to the new territory. It ensured that the
16 PJ. Isaak. Religion and Society A Namibian Perspective. Windhoek: Out of Africa
Publishers. 1997. p. 45.
17 G.M. Carter & P. O'Meara (eds). Southern Africa: The Continuing Crisis. 1982. pp.
142-143.